Trump and the January 6 Memory Hole
When is it better to forget? A conversation with Congressman Jamie Raskin.
October 24, 2024
25 min
95
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265 of 364
Episode 95 · October 24, 2024
Trump and the January 6 Memory Hole
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The Atlantic Episodes Around October 24, 2024
Episode 265 of 364 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
25:14This episodeTrump and the January 6 Memory Hole
Summary
The way Donald Trump talks about January 6 has evolved over time. Directly after the insurrection, he condemned the rioters, although he added that they were “very special.” For the next few years, he played around with different themes, implying the protests were peaceful or that the people jailed for their actions that day were “political prisoners.”
But these descriptions are mild compared to the outrageous ways he’s been talking about January 6 in these weeks leading up to the election. Recently, he described the day as “love and peace” and upped the metaphor from political prisoners to Japanese Americans in internment camps during World War II. Why is he leaning so hard into the political revisionism? And what exactly should we be afraid of?
In this episode of Radio Atlantic, we talk to Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who has a unique view of that day. Raskin explains what January 6, 2025, might look like and what is historically unique about Trump’s claims. And I ask Raskin the question I’ve been wondering: When might it be appropriate to let January 6 go?
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